A German team made up of fresh talent dominated the French edition of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup™. This was the fifth leg of this popular series which took place at Le Pin au Haras, in Normandy from August 11-14. Their overall score of 94.4 put them ahead of home nation France who completed on 98.5. Third place went to Great Britain, who finished on 100.5.
Impressive dressage and cross-country performances from the German team put them in a strong position going into the final jumping phase. It was Alina Dibowski’s fabulous clear on Barbados 26, finishing on her dressage score, that secured the victory and also helped her achieve individual third place. The 22-year-old rider was competing in her very first Nations Cup and is the daughter of Andreas Dibowski, who won a gold medal in team eventing for Germany at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Speaking after her clear jumping round, Alina said, “My horse gives me the most confident feeling because I have had him since he was five [years old] and we grew up together and are now at this level together. Also my parents who have supported me at every moment of my career. The Europeans is a goal for me now, especially after this event, but every year it is getting tougher [to make the team] so we will just hope for the best.”
Malin Hansen-Hotopp describes herself as a semi-professional rider. “I was on the Young Rider teams and was champion in 1996 and 1997 and afterwards we became farmers and I had three kids so we built up a farm and I rode young horses. Now the kids have grown up and I have trained young horses and now I have two four-star horses. The Germans have a second team and we are that today. We are really pleased that the second team could do a good job as three of us were on the long-list for the World Championships. In Germany it is really hard to get on the team, we have really strong riders.”
Discussing the cross-country track, riders were full of praise. Hansen-Hotopp summed it up: “This is a really great place- I loved the cross-country, it is up and down hill and with the castle in the background, it was a great view. The cross-country was tough but good and the ground was fabulous.”
France, the home nation, finished a close second. Gaspard Maksud, who finished best of the French quartet, summed up the cross-country and his performance. “The cross-country was a proper four-star track. It was big enough and technical enough and the time was tight enough but not impossible. My horse was just super, she tried so hard for me. She is only nine years old and she is already competitive and she just wants to please. All week everything was so good.”
It was one of the most hotly-contested legs of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ so far, with 12 teams coming forwards. There were a number of leading riders, including New Zealand’s team stalwarts Tim and Jonelle Price, as well as Mollie Summerland on her 2021 Luhmuhlen 5* winner, Charley Van Ter Heiden. In addition there were a number of promising young and lesser-known riders looking to gain experience and make their mark on senior teams, which this 4* series is perfect for. The event was also a final run for several combinations heading for the FEI Eventing World Championship 2022, which takes place in Pratoni del Vivaro (ITA) from September 15-18.
Le Pin au Haras is a venue of great significance in French equestrian sport, and hosted the eventing competition for the FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 in Caen. It will also be host to the next FEI Eventing European Championships which take place in 2023.
The FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ action moves to Belgium and Canada next, with the sixth and seventh legs of the series taking place simultaneously in Arville and Bromont respectively from August 18-21. That leaves just Ballindenisk (IRL) in September prior to the ninth and final leg of the series in Boekelo (NED) from 6-9 October.
Full results can be found here
The FEI standings so far can be found here
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